Days Still Count Down
by ajremix
Summary: Spoilers through the end of ME 3 slightly adjusted to fit story needs, however . Survival doesn't end with the Reapers.
1. Chapter 1

I must say I was surprised when these two had the potentially to hook up in the game. They were always my crack pairing since ME 1 so it was almost surreal... Also the ending had been altered slightly to fight the story.

* * *

Tali had been okay with her promotion to Admiral because she was in charge of things she knew inside and out, things she was the leading expert on in the Migrant Fleet. Now, though, the title put a fear into her because it made her the highest ranking quarian known to be stranded on Earth and all of her people looked to her for guidance, for answers, for a way to _survive_. Garrus, thankfully, suggested she coordinate the quarian and turian engineers, organizing repairs and projects while he dealt with the rest. On top of the other responsibilities that found their way back to him. It often lead to her finding him braced over a desk cluttered with reports, head bowed and sleeping on his feet. Tali would have to tug him over to a cot and at first he woke up every time and protested, claiming he had too much he still needed to get done. Now, though, he barely stirred as she settled them, easing his visor off, resting his head on her lap and lightly stroking the scars that marred his face until she fell asleep.

They weren't going to survive long. She knew this. He knew this. But they never said anything because they'd both lost so much already they didn't want to think about losing each other as well. Almost 80% of the hydroponic pods were reserved for dextro-amino compatible foods but it still wasn't enough. Not with more quarians and turians finding their way to London every day. Rations were spreading thinner and thinner and Wrex had krogan guarding the dextro food storage because of it. She limited herself to one meal a day. Garrus secretly put most of his rations into Primarch Victus's share. She couldn't remember the last time she saw Garrus eat and when she saw his steps wavering as he did his rounds, checking up on his troops, Tali was determined to fix that.

The moment she'd finished her meeting with a salarian science team (they needed to find a way off the planet, they needed to find one that was dextro-amino based, that was the only way her people and Garrus's people would be able to survive), she cornered her teammate in a shadowed area of the motor pool, between a couple tanks fit only for salvage and the Thames River. She shoved a ration bar at his chest and demanded, "Eat."

Garrus tried to laugh and wave it off but his eyes weren't focusing exactly right. "I've already had my allotted food for the day."

"Like hell. _Eat_, you stubborn bosh'tet, or I'll have Wrex cram it down your throat."

They stared each other down for a moment, but Tali was full of righteous stubbornness and all Garrus had was self-inflicted starvation. He sighed and went over to the railing that looked over the river. He sat, unwrapped the bar and took a bite. Satisfied, Tali took a seat next to him, close enough so their arms brushed together. Both would rather stare out at the silhouette of the Reaper crashed into the river than look over the camp. It was difficult to see the physical change in turians- even more so in quarians -but they could see it in the hunched shoulders and gaunt angles of limbs. Their people were slowly starving. _They_ were slowly starving. They helped saved the galaxy three times over and now they were doomed to die a slow, lingering death, far from their homes and families.

"What a way to go," Garrus said, almost under his breath.

"We're not gone yet."

"Unless there's a miracle, it won't be long."

"Don't say that." But Tali's voice was weak because she knew it was true.

They stayed silent for a moment, the sun on their backs, before Garrus said, "I'm sorry you're stuck here. After finally getting your homeworld back... I'm sorry."

Briefly Tali's hand touched one of her pouches. The one with the rock Shepard had given her on Rannoch. The small piece of her home she carried with her everywhere. "I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to see your father and sister again."

"They're safe." It sounded like he was trying to convince himself. "With the Reapers dead, I'm sure they're safe."

"That's why you need to eat. So you can see them again."

Garrus just laughed, a strained, bitter thing. Tali wrapped her arm around his, pressing her helmet against his shoulder and trying so damned hard not to break. "Don't leave me alone here."

"You won't be alone. There's still Wrex and Liara."

"But they're not you." Her grip tightened and Tali hadn't felt so young since her Pilgrimage. "Don't leave me."

There was a sound, something between a purr and a coo, that vibrated low in Garrus's throat as he nuzzled against Tali's helmet. "I won't." It wasn't some empty platitude or a selfish boast. Just a soft promise to do the best he could. "Us dextros have to stick together, after all."

Tali just nodded and held him close.


	2. Chapter 2

Well. Here's another one to throw on the 'Things I Didn't Expect to Continue' pile. I have no idea if this will continue at all, we'll just have to see.

* * *

It was a month since the first recorded fatality from self-inflicted anaphylactic shock came in and there were still cases coming in every few days. Today's was a senior turian NCO and Garrus didn't want to think about what kind of effect this would have on the lower ranks. The dextros were getting more desperate for food by the day and more than one raid had been attempted on the food stores. The krogans didn't even gloat anymore. They were disappointed, disgusted, some even pitying the slow deterioration of the race that had once nearly driven them to extinction. The turians and quarians were weak, too weak to continue with the reconstruction process, too weak to even attempt to save themselves. Their futures rested in the hands of the other races but Garrus couldn't even find the energy to care anymore. The medical stations were filled with dextros succumbing to diseases, sickness and dehydration but all he could do was lay in his cot and wish he had the energy to lift a pistol and end things on his terms.

Tali's body was too small under his arm, all fragile angles and brittle points. A doctor had put her on vitamin fluids and she had complained about aches in her body for days. She eventually stopped complaining. Garrus didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

He nudged at her helmet with his chin. "Tali? Tali, are you still with me?" His words felt as dry as his mouth, as his head, all cracked and emptied and crumbling to dust.

"So tired," she said so softly Garrus almost didn't hear it above the rattling in his lungs.

"Stay awake," he told her, even as his eyelids slid closed. "You have to stay awake." She hummed in response and Garrus breathed out, "Stay with me Tali. Please."

"I think," her words slurred together around a clumsy tongue, "that's the first time you ever said 'please' to me."

His mandibles twitched and something in his chest softened at the knowledge that, even as their end approached, Tali still had the strength to sass him. "I'm sure I said it before. Just... can't remember right now."

She hummed again, rolling a little closer until she was leaning against Garrus's chest more than not. He couldn't hear her breathing anymore, could barely feel her pulse and even if it wasn't the way he imagined dying, Garrus supposed there were worse ways to go than in the arms of someone he cared deeply about.

"Admiral Zorah? Admiral- there's a comm request for you."

Garrus managed enough energy to part his eyelids, staring at the human that stood near the edge of the cot.

"Admiral, General- please." The human sounded desperate and Garrus would've laughed if he had the strength. He was almost curious to know how big a blow to morale it would be if two alien races went extinct right here, right now, after what was supposed to be the war to save the galaxy. "We've been contacted by a quarian ship and they're asking to speak with the admiral."

Some how he managed to scrounge up the effort to ask, "Who is it?" His flanging tones ran together, turning the words into a tangle of frequencies that even he could barely understand.

"It's the captain of the _Rayya_."

The plates above Garrus's eyes shifted, drawing together at some long forgotten memory the name was trying to trigger. He took Tali's shoulder in his clumsy hand and shook weakly. "Tali. Tali." The light of her mouthpiece glowed and Garrus heard her breath again. "The _Rayya_ is calling you. Isn't that your birth ship?"

"Yes," she said faintly. "It's a liveship." The words settled between them for a moment until Tali suddenly bolted upward, nearly jostling Garrus from the cot. "_It's a liveship_!" She leapt passed the human, nearly falling to her knees before she bullied herself outside with all the desperate energy that hunger had sapped from her. Garrus struggled to his feet and, with the human occasionally steadying an elbow, limped his way to the communications hub. By the time he got there, Tali was speaking to the comm too fast for him to follow. "Thank you. Thank you. Keelah se'lai, Captain. Thank you."

"/Of course, Admiral Zorah. Our ships will be there within the hour. Keelah se'lai./"

As the line cut off, Garrus asked, "What's going on?"

Tali spun around, eyes bright behind her visor and though her hands trembled as she gripped his arms, there was _strength_ in them. "It's the _Rayya_, Garrus. A _liveship_! They have _food_!" Her breath hitched like she was crying. "_We're going to survive_!"


End file.
